Storify, an interactive platform that lets users drag and drop YouTube clips, Facebook posts, tweets and other Web content to frame dynamic journalistic stories, has been announced as the 2011 $10,000 Grand Prize winner of J-Lab’s Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

“In Storify, we see a journalism tool that truly solves a newsroom problem and also inspires others to challenge the way they’ve been telling stories,” said Knight-Batten judge Amy Webb in today’s official release.

With less than a year since it was founded, Storify’s potential for impact had judges pretty excited, largely because its easy to use format makes journalism and data farming techniques available to everyone. 

Other winners of the contest for new models for newsgathering and enhancing digital engagement are also very impressive.  From 123 entries, four stood out as recipients of the Special Distinction Award.

West Africa Democracy Radio, a platform for radio stations in 13 resource-limited countries to produce and share content, and NPR’s Andy Carvin, a reporter who has gather content from his twitter followers to synthesize dynamic insights, were presented with $2,000 each.  Bloomberg Government, a subscription-based website that quantifies the impact of government action on business, and the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news startup with a focus on making important online data understandable, won $1,000 a piece.

“This year’s innovations demonstrate how journalists keep developing clever ways to open up the process of journalism to new contributors and seekers of information,” said Jose Zamora, Knight Foundation journalism program associate.

To learn more about contest winners and runners-up, read the official release.  For more information on how Knight sponsors journalistic initiatives like the Knight-Batten Awards to promote informed and engaged communities visit knightfoundation.org.